“Have you got a bow that’s the right size?” Ichabod teased.
“Believe it or not, yeah. That was one of the things Dad got on the way up—a big pile of ribbon that’s ten inches wide.”
Ichabod laughed at the way Ellis rolled his eyes, but he knew Ellis was into this. The man loved Christmas. He’d been a true dictator while they were decorating the tree, making sure everything was covered and there were no big gaps in the ornaments and that nothing was going to fall over if the dog hit it. Not that Mavis cared. She gave no shits about the tree.
“Well, good deal, and thank you for letting your dad know that we could use some food.” He grinned because he knew that Ellis had to have texted his father.
“What can I say? It looked like things were heading for a disaster in here, and Dad wanted to do something nice for everybody. He always stops before he gets to somebody’s house because the last thing he wants to do when he first gets there is pee.”
That gave him a great insight into Joe’s character, and he chuckled. “All right, Chrissy, that’s enough bubbles. Let Grandpa Joe put you down so that we can all eat.”
“Okay!” Chrissy was pretty easy. She wiped her hands on a towel, and so did Joe. They all sat at the kitchen table. Zane had already piled the plate high, but it didn’t matter because Joe had brought enough for at least three times the amount of people they had here.
Ichabod guessed that was good. They could have leftover cinnamon rolls tomorrow for breakfast, which would make things a little bit easier on him. He didn’t have to put anything in the crock pot overnight that way.
Joe was sandwiched between Allie and Chrissy, who had decided that he was magical. Zane handed him the platter of sausage biscuits first, just because. It made him proud because Zane had manners, even if he was a greedy gut.
“Is everybody ready for Santa Claus to come?” Ellis asked. The girl squealed and Michael bounced. Zane rolled his eyes, but he chuckled.
“Yeah, sure, we’re tickled,” Zane said.
Ichabod had to have a long talk with Zane last year while they were still in Denver about telling the younger kids there was no Santa Claus. Ichabod wasn’t going to stand for that kind of shit, and Zane had been surprisingly willing to go along with things.
Ellis winked at him over the kid’s head, and Joe looked back and forth between everybody, munching away.
“Bob-a-Joe, do you have a letter for Santa for tomorrow night? If you don’t have one, I can help you because you have to have one.” Allie was very worried about the rules for Santa and not having the appropriate number of cookies or letters or what have you.
It was super important to her that everyone have their ducks in a row because otherwise, what if Santa was angry?
He’d heard about this for days.
Angry Santa.
He was fairly sure he could blame Michael for that. Michael was nowhere near as direct as Zane and was way less willing to get in trouble, so when he teased the girls he tended to get away with it.
“I told Santa I was going to be here,” Joe said. “And he was happy because I got to meet you girls.”
Allie relaxed and then shot her brother a glare as if to say, see I told you.
Michael shrugged going for wide-eyed and innocent, but Ichabod didn’t buy a second of it.
“I told you, Allie, everything is going to be fine. Santa is coming, all is right in the world.”
“I know.” She gave him a serious stare. “I worry.”
“Nothing to worry about, little bit,” Joe said. “Us cowboys know how to get in touch with the old elf. You got nothing to worry about.”
Allie grinned at him, “That’s what Bell said. Cowboys know. Cowboys are like Santa, but Daddy’s not a cowboy.” She sighed softly. “He does make neat pots and cups and statues, and nobody else does that like he does.”
Zane lifted one eyebrow and grinned at him over his sausage biscuit. “Well, Dad’s in love with a cowboy, so that’s almost the same.”
Allie blinked at her brother, “What does that mean—in love?”
Zane stared at him, but there was no way he was letting his son get out of this. No way at all. He couldn’t wait to hear this.
Zane rolled his eyes. “When you’re in love, all you do is think about them. It feels really good when you’re with them, and when you’re not with them, it’s lonely…”
Oh shit. His son may or may not be in the middle of his first love affair. Ichabod was going to die — either of cuteness or sheer horror. He wasn’t sure yet.
